Google Pulls Siri Knock-Off from Android Market

On Friday, for a few hours an application for Android powered phones called Siri for Android surfaced in the Android Market. The app claimed itself to be an “official” app for the massively popular Android platform and within the few hours many hits were recorded. However, as soon as Google noticed this app they took it down immediately.

Within the stipulated period the app was installed in almost 1,000 Android devices, reported The Next Web.

The Siri for Android app was developed by Official Software. In fact, after this incident all the other apps, such as Pinterest, developed by the same outfit have been pulled down from the Android Market giving an indication that Google would have pulled the developer account itself

Android market was full of Siri knock-offs and that Siri for Android in particular was enticing users by using the word “official” alongside the name of the app. The move by Google is one of the quickest seen so far in terms of pulling down an app.

The unchecked publishing of apps on Android market allows developers like ‘Official’ to publish apps and profit through illegal means.